During the 12th century, Orthez was the capital of
Béarn, after
Morlaàs and before
Pau, which is still the prefectural administrative capital. At the end of the 12th century, Orthez passed from the possession of the viscounts of
Dax to that of the viscounts of Bearn, whose chief place of residence it became in the 13th century.
Froissart records the splendour of the court of Orthez under
Gaston Phoebus in the latter half of the 14th century.
Jeanne d'Albret founded a Calvinist university in the town and
Theodore Beza taught there for some time. An envoy sent in 1569 by
Charles IX to revive the Catholic faith had to stand a siege in the
battle of Orthez; the city was eventually taken by assault by the Protestant/Huguenot captain, Gabriel, count of Montgomery. In 1684 Nicholas Foucault, intendant under
Louis XIV, was more successful, as the inhabitants, ostensibly at least, renounced Protestantism. It is nevertheless still a strong tradition in the town. Another
battle of Orthez occurred during the Napoleonic Wars on 27 February 1814, in which the British
Duke of Wellington defeated
Marshal Soult on the hills to the north of Orthez.
Gaston Planté, the French physicist, was born here on the 22 April 1834; his major claim to fame was the invention in 1859 of the lead-acid battery, the common car battery. ==Population==